Categories

The rate of mortgages at the lowest since the post-war period

Mortgage interest rates averaged 3.3% in September, according to a study by the Housing Credit Observatory / CSA.

Mortgage interest rates in France averaged 3.3% in September, down 0.1 percentage points from August, their lowest level since the post-war period. , according to a study by Housing Credit Observatory / CSA, published Monday, October 4.

The record low was reached in Q4 2005, with 3.36%, say the authors of the study. “The financing conditions of banks, which are still excellent (at one percent) and their very active commercial strategy, are at the origin of this record,” explains Michel Mouillart, professor of economics at Paris X-Nanterre University. The decline was very rapid as rates were still 3.93% in the third quarter of 2009 and 5.07% in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to statistics from the Central Loan Guarantee Body for Housing.

But these favorable borrowing conditions have adverse effects on housing prices, which are exploding again in all major cities, except Marseille. The main beneficiaries of the situation are the owners selling their property. “The historically low-interest rates increase the financing envelopes of the purchasers, in particular for the people buying for the second time who arrive with important contributions thanks to the surplus value on the residences which they resell”, indicates Laurent Vimont, President of Century 21, a leading network of real estate agents.

FINANCE ANCIENT HOUSING

In intramural Paris, prices, with 7,410 euros per square meter, rose by 15% between the third quarters of 2009 and 2010. The increases are 5.6% in Lyon, 3.65% in Lille but down 5.0% in Marseilles, according to Century 21. “This is a bad sign for buyers, but the favorable credit conditions that allow a release of the market, including the sale of the most expensive apartments, are always accompanied by a rise in prices, ” notes Michel Mouillart.

“The level of monthly payments associated with the same borrowed capital is still 10% lower than its December 2008 level,” the study said. Despite the fall in rates, total mortgage loans granted by banks are expected to reach 140 billion euros in 2010, up only 17% in 2009, but still far from the 2007 record of 170.23 billion euros. ‘euros), according to another study by Crédit Logement, published on 21 July. The credits that are currently being used are used primarily to finance old housing acquisitions.

For Crédit Logement, “the rise in the level of personal contribution (plus 6.5% since the beginning of the year after less 3.0% in 2009), which accompanies the release of the resale market, makes it possible to offset rising costs that previously degraded financing plans”. But due to price increases and increased reliance on debt, the relative cost of debt-financed real estate continues to remain high for households (3.85 years of revenue in September), thus returning to the high levels of summer 2007, says Crédit Logement. The use of cheap credit is expected to continue, said Michel Mouillart, because “the banks will increase their commercial competition, facing a heightened consumer demand through the reform of loans to homeownership and the creation of the Zero Rate Loan (PTZ) Plus”- Actionfotoz.